Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel

Today, I spoke with Dave Evans, who is a social media marketing expert, author, business owner and columnist. We talk about what it’s like to convince people of the importance of social media, how to answer the dreaded “ROI” question, which social networks you should join and avoid and how to be a great community member. This post will give you more insight in what it takes to use social media within a company, as well as answer some questions you’ve probably been pondering lately.

How would you convince someone (a manager, teacher, even a parent) to participate in social media?

Without a doubt, the simplest and most effective way to do this is to bring the Social Web to them. My initial activity–across a range of clients, community leaders (in the physical sense), educators and even skeptical parents–is to show them what is being said about them or about things that matter to them on the Social Web. So many people think of social media, the Social Web, and MySpace as being the same thing. Of course, they are not at all the same thing, and showing people first hand what “social media” is remains the most effective way of getting their attention.

Tools that facilitate this include Google Alerts (free), several self-serve platforms, and full service offerings from industry pioneers like Buzzmetrics, Cymfony, and Umbria. My personal tool of choice for initial social discovery is Techrigy’s SM2 social media measurement platform. It’s low cost and self-serve, so it’s perfect for quick, precise tactical work. Regardless of the platform–any of those I’ve listed are well suited for social media discovery–the best first step is to see what’s out there.

Not only is it less scary than people think, the information found on the Social Web can be genuinely interesting and quite informative when applied to a business.

I know you’re dreading this question, and so am I because I do social media for a large corporation, but how does one measure ROI in social media?

Dreading? How about “loving this question!” It’s one of the most important with regard to the practice of social media, at least as far as a marketer is concerned. My approach to establishing an ROI is decidedly practical, and grows out of my background as a scientist and the experience I gained working for the space agency. I suggest first establishing a baseline: In fact, this is largely accomplished through the process I outlined in the preceding question, with some quantitative benchmarking applied. In other words, let’s confirm or otherwise ascertain exactly where we are now, before we do anything new.

With a baseline established, we can look for changes that are reasonably attributed to the work we do through the application of socially based marketing programs. This can actually be quite rigorous: For example, if we use social media measurement techniques to uncover a market opportunity which we then pursue, we can measure the results using an entirely conventional approach. It’s not rocket science, and believe me when I say I know rocket science when I see it. Instead, the determination of a defensible ROI is a matter of first committing to the process of establishing one, and then doing the work (and applying the common sense) required to tease apart the various components of an integrated marketing program.

On this last point, understand that very few marketers measure adequately now. In a Forrester Research report a few years ago–and I certainly haven’t seen any huge shift toward real measures of actual effectives since then–about 40% of marketers measured individual channel effectiveness, about 32% measured overall marketing effectiveness, and only about 28%–less than one third–measured both channels and the overall impact. So, my question is “What’s the ROI on any marketing program?” Relatively few marketers can actually answer this question quantitatively.

What most will pull out instead are measures of exposure per dollar spent or a similar measure of ad awareness as a result of marketing investment.

“Social media doesn’t work at the awareness level: it works at the consideration level.”

Social media is a purchase intention enhancement (or challenger, if the content is negative). To measure social media effectiveness you have to look at overall business results in the context of what you are doing differently as a result of what you’ve learned or participated in as a brand on the Social Web. But guess what? That’s exactly what marketers should be doing with all efforts, and as a result determining an ROI that relates to their business objectives rather than an arbitrary set of marketing objectives.

What social networks should people join and which ones should they stay away from?

I’ll answer this by simply flipping the question around! As a brand, you should join and participate in the networks that matter to you, and stay away from the ones that don’t. Here’s what I really mean by this: First, take a look at “Groundswell,” by Forrester’s Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li. Point number one is understand your business objectives; point number two is understand your audience. Put these together and look back at this question and my answer:

“Pay attention and participate in the networks whose audience matters to you in the context of your business objectives. Don’t waste time in the networks that fail either test.”

Here’s a real example: Slingshot Sports sells wakeboards, boards for kiting, and wake skates. They should be participating in focused niche sites like Wakesites, and in communities that contain meaningful numbers of wake enthusiasts, like Facebook and MySpace. For the purpose of selling more gear, they probably don’t need to be in LinkedIn, or in mass appeal properties with only a vague connection to action sports. Platforms like Friend2Friend’s ProductPulse that facilitate social conversations on MySpace and Facebook are ideal tools for this application.

DISCLOSURE: I am an advisor and share holder in both Wakesites and Friend2Friend.

Is social media for everyone? What are the benefits and drawbacks associated with getting involved?

Social media is probably not for everyone, but only in the sense that nothing is truly for everyone. At a practical level, social media applies to far more people and is therefore an appropriate tool for far more marketers than most would realize. Again, citing Forrester’s “Groundswell” profile tool, while it’s true that a much smaller share of people 55 and over generate social content as compared with people under 25, almost 60% of people 55 and over consume social content, compared with just under 80% of those under 25.

60% is a big share, and it’s important to recognize this: Marketers often think (somewhat correctly) that “it’s mostly kids generating social content.” That may or may not be true (more and more, it isn’t) but in any event it misses the real point: Regardless of age or gender, the majority of nearly any sizeable market is paying attention to (consuming) social media. Social media ought to be top of mind for all marketers.

How do you define a “genuine Social Web participant”?

There’s a new-ish term emerging: It’s actually been around for a few years but is just now starting to gain real traction. It’s “Generation C” and it refers not to an age group but rather to the cross section of people who are creating, sharing, and consuming digital social content. It’s your daughter creating her profile on MySpace, and your parent or grandparent creating an e-blast or video alert for AARP’s e-activist efforts. In short, a genuine participant is someone who creates, shares, or re-purposes social content.

An alternate way of defining “genuine”: is to think of this in terms of “who has the right” to participate. I make this point in my book, “Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day.” Essentially, if you have something to say that adds to the conversation, or is relevant to the people you are talking with, you have the right to say it. This applies to marketers as well as end consumers. While this is not without controversy–some believe that marketers ought be banned from the Social Web–I think this is a reasonable way to think about who is and isn’t genuine. The big key is disclosure: It is never OK for a marketer to enter a conversation without declaring his or her association with the brand, product, or service. This can be tough for marketers because they aren’t used to it. On TV, ads don’t need to be disclosed because it is obvious to everyone that they are ads. On the social web, absent any note or disclosure to the contrary, a voice is a voice.

In summary, in this context there are two tests for “genuine” — an invited, relevant cause for participation, and disclosure of any material connection to the conversation that extends beyond participation out of simple interest. Everyone else is suspect.

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Dave Evans is the author of “Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day,” a practical, hands-on guide to implementing and measuring social media as part of an integrated marketing program. Dave cofounded Digital Voodoo in 1994. Digital Voodoo provides strategic marketing services for clients wanting to tap the power of the social Web. In 2005, he cofounded HearThis.com, a podcasting service firm focused on social media and marketing. Dave holds a BS in physics and mathematics from the State University of New York/College at Brockport and has served on the Advisory Board with ad:tech and the Measurement and Metrics Council with WOMMA.